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Digital Built Britain heralds a new generation of smart infrastructure and construction

Digital Built Britain heralds a new generation of smart infrastructure and construction

October 2016

Innovate UK and the Department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy have formed a partnership to deliver through Digital Built Britain, the next phase of digitisation in the construction sector.

The work will be driven by the internationally-recognised Building Information Modelling Task Group, set up in 2011 to deliver up to 20% savings on costs of major projects, and was officially announced at the Insitute of Civil Engineers BIM 2016 conference by Mark Bew MBE.

Digital Built Britain, first announced in the 2016 budget, will deliver reductions in whole-life costs and carbon emissions, whilst improving productivity and capacity by using intelligent building information models, sensing technology and secure data and information infrastructure.

The programme will include ground-breaking work on data infrastructure and is seen as fundamental to delivering a range of other Government digital transformation objectives, including building successful UK sectors in smart cities, cyber and physical security and realising the potential of the Internet of Things. It is hoped the scheme will help align activities around the ideas of smart cities, ensuring a consistent approach to this vital enabler of public services and economic growth.

In particular, Digital Built Britain will look at:

Providing departmental support and British Standards for BIM Level 2

Increased international trade and opportunities for growth for UK companies

A series of early adopter projects focusing on Level 3A and manufacturing technologies

Speaking at the ICE conference, Mark Bew confirmed that the BIM Level 2 Guidance: UK edition will be published on the Level 2 BIM website at the end of November. He also revealed that the will also announced that the United Kingdom Accreditation Service have been appointed to establish a certification scheme for Level 2 BIM.

Mr Bew commented: "Today marks a significant step in the journey to a digital economy for the built environment. The UK has made a significant step in creating a world-class position in delivering capability, standards and capacity in the sector to reduce cost and increase value. The coming together of the BIM and smart city programme into Digital Built Britain will continue this commitment to providing jobs, homes, services and growth to the UK economy".

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